Maryland · Nonprofit
IMAGINATION STAGE INC
IMAGINATION STAGE INC (Maryland) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,416,781 to it, the largest being ARTS AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF MONTGOMER ($2,572,977). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.8M
- Funders on record
- 68
- Grants received
- $5.4M
- Net assets
- $5.5M
What Imagination Stage Inc does
Mission
Imagination stage, inc. Empowers all young people to discover their voice and identity through performing arts education and professional theatre.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Imagination stage, inc. Is the washington, dc, region's leading theatre organization dedicated exclusively to young people. Through professional theatre productions and comprehensive arts education programs, the organization serves children and youth of all ages and abilities - across economic, cognitive, and physical differences. Imagination stage advances creativity, confidence, and social connection by ensuring broad access to high-quality transformative performing arts experiences.professional theatre programimagination stage produces professional theatre specifically created for young audiences, employing professional actors, directors, and designers. Since its founding in a single classroom, the organization has grown into a nationally recognized theatre that commissions and premieres new works for children annually-an uncommon practice in the field. These original productions have received multiple awards and have been produced by theatres nationwide and internationally, extending their educational impact. In fy25, istage reached 59,000 children and families through professional live theatre productions at our bethesda theatre. In addition, imagination stage produces…
$5,092,530 spent$3,089,069 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,092,530.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $7.5M to $5.7M (−23%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 28% · 2018 22% · 2019 22% · 2020 11% · 2021 55% · 2022 30% · 2023 25% · 2024 21% · 2025 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of IMAGINATION STAGE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $99k → $763k.
15 of 68 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $341k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Imagination Stage of Washington DC Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money IMAGINATION STAGE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of IMAGINATION STAGE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 68 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
IMAGINATION STAGE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
66% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund IMAGINATION STAGE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 67% · 2019 58% · 2020 54% · 2021 50% · 2022 45% · 2023 45% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of IMAGINATION STAGE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
64% of IMAGINATION STAGE INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.9M that is directly attributable, 56% of it comes from funders outside Maryland, across 10 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
IMAGINATION STAGE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding IMAGINATION STAGE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.3M on record — $268k federal, $8.0M state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$268k
- Grant$8.0M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like IMAGINATION STAGE INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Imagination Stage of Washington DC Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for IMAGINATION STAGE INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds IMAGINATION STAGE INC?
- IMAGINATION STAGE INC (Maryland) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,416,781 to it, the largest being ARTS AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF MONTGOMER ($2,572,977). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does IMAGINATION STAGE INC have?
- IRS filings report 68 organizations giving $5,416,781 in grants to IMAGINATION STAGE INC, 41 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IMAGINATION STAGE INC?
- ARTS AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF MONTGOMER is the largest funder on record, with $2,572,977 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IMAGINATION STAGE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Imagination Stage →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 68 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing